Prezi.com – some experiences
So I have started to use Prezi.com (a ‘cloud’ based presentation tool) as I have been interested in any alternative to slide based presenting. The real test was my presentation at AGI Geocommunity. So far it has been well received by audiences and I am enjoying the ’single canvas’ format.
An introduction video is here.
My thoughts on prezi so far are:
- It is great for sharing your presentation and easy to insert into a blog. In fact it is all about sharing, as soon as you have created a prezi it is shared (no conversions, uploads etc). In fact you can share before you present (great for those projector/beamer failures!).
- It is a great way of working on a single canvas, you can work on a high level structure first and then start filling out the details.
- Editing is tedious! It is a lot slower than working with powerpoint and it takes a while to learn. I now realise how much I use copy and paste! When I need to do something quickly I still use powerpoint.
- It seems to work best when you have a high level view of the structure, zoom in to see some detail, then keep on zooming out again to see where you are in the structure. See these tips.
- Paths can help with a formal presentation, but navigating free-hand is great too.
- It is simple to download your prezi for offline presenting and less stress.
- I will carry on using it (and may even part with some $$$$ for the pro version!)
Give it a go… Happy presenting!
It’s certainly an interesting presentation paradigm that Prezi offers.
The problem with Prezi is that I think a zooming interface should be able to show visual content in proper resolution, which they don’t handle very well.
Further I miss more advanced layout features (and the copy paste), and as I’m used to Adobe’s UI and advanced layout features I’ve started using Ahead (www.ahead.com) instead – it does exactly what Prezi does apart from offline viewing which I don’t need (but I think it should be pretty easy for the to offer).
The cool thing about Ahead is that you can also upload Adobe & Office files directly and display them in high resolution. Nice!
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the post on Prezi. Do you use copy and paste inside a Prezi? “Control” + “C” and “Control”+”C”?
Best
Peter
Jens,
Thanks for the tip. Yes getting good resolution on uploaded images etc is also an issue.
Thanks for the tip – I’ll have a look at “Ahead”.
Tim
Peter,
Thanks for the tip. I’ve just tried ctrl + C/V within a prezi and it works great. It is of course not possible to paste from outside (e.g. an image within a browser) which makes lfe easier in desktop presentation editors.
Tim